Men’s golf lays egg at U.S. Intercollegiates
Lohman places third but Bruins finish a disappointing 12th,
Stanford takes title
By Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
Despite a remarkable performance by Eric Lohman, the UCLA men’s
golf team finished in a disappointing 12th place at the U.S.
Intercollegiate Men’s Golf Tournament last weekend in Palo
Alto.
Behind Stanford’s Casey Martin and California’s Charlie Wi,
Lohman finished tied for third at 210. The junior was actually on
the top of the leader board on Sunday morning with a 67 and 68
stroke performance in the first two days, but cooled off Sunday as
he finished with a 75.
While Lohman was having one of his finest outings this year, his
teammates struggled. Mike Miller finished in 41st place with 222
and Brian Bock finished 46th with 223. Both Kevin Rhoads and Lance
Graville finished out of the top 100.
With a total of 887 strokes, UCLA finished behind five other
Pac-10 teams.
Last weekend’s tournament marked the fourth time in a row that
the Bruins finished out of the top 10. The last time the Bruins
finished in the top 10 was at the Oregon Intercollegiates on March
6.
Stanford, which was competing on its campus golf course, was
impressive. The Cardinal finished atop the final results at
853.
"I was very, very pleased with the play of our four ironmen
today," Stanford head coach Wally Goodwin said on Sunday. "They are
the nucleus of last year’s national championship team. Everyone
came through."
The significance of Stanford’s win was that they had to compete
without the services of ace Tiger Woods, who was injured. Woods,
who won the U.S. Amateur Championships and was invited to the
Masters a few weeks ago, was forced to withdraw from the tournament
on the second day.
On the very first drive of the first hole on Saturday, Woods
suffered what is being described as a rotator cuff injury to his
right shoulder. Eleven holes later, Woods had to retire because the
injury was too painful.
Much to Stanford’s credit, their four other golfers all had
solid performances. Stanford finished with a score of 853, which
was three strokes better than second place Arizona State. However,
the win will likely cast a shadow at Palo Alto because Woods will
be sitting out for several weeks.
"Tiger Woods will not compete in the Pac-10 Championships,"
Goodwin said. "We don’t know anything after that."